>y 1 



Practical Forestry in the Sodthern Appalachians. 

HY . ' 

\ 

OVERTON W/PRICE, 

iSiqicrinloidenl of Working Plans, Division of Forestry. 



[Repkixt fkom Ykarbook of Department of Agriculture for 1900.] 






11 DEC 1905 
D.otD. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 

Introduction - -^•'^7 

General description of the region 357 

The forest 358 

Forest types 359 

Lumbering 360 

The local system 362 

Damage to the forest 362 

Fire 363 

Causes of fires 363 

Damage by fires 364 

Suggestions for management 365 

Cut-over lands 365 

Virgin forests - 366 

Need of practical forestry 368 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Platk XXXVIII. Dogwood in flower 358 

XXXIX. Yellow Poplar and Hemlock on north slope 358 

XL. A characteristic mountain stream 362 

XLI. A mountain road - 362 

XLII. A deadening 362 

XLIII. The Chestnut 368 



PRA( TI( AL FORESTRY IN THE SOXITHERN 
APPALACHIANS. 

By Overton \V. Price, 
Super'mdendent of Working PlatDi, Dirisii))i of Fwestnj. 

INTRODUCTION. 

The' Southern Appalachians offer an excellent field for practical 
forestiy. The need of systematic and conservative forest manage- 
ment is beginning- to be keenly felt, both for the timber tract and the 
wood lot. The present desultory form of lumbering, which dates from 
the settlement of the region, has resulted in a serious reduction of the 
existing supply of timber. The unnecessary damage which has 
accompanied this lumbering, together with the repeated fires and 
excessive grazing to which the forest- has been largely subjected, has 
greatly retarded the production of a second crop. Although there is 
still enough wood to fill the wants of the settlers, the cost of obtain- 
ing it is constantly increasing with the growing distance between the 
supply and the market. Around the towns and villages the belt of 
woodlands from which all merchantable timber has been culled widens 
every 3"ear, while fire and grazing often prevent young trees from 
springing up on the cut-over area. 

The rapid increase now going on in the values of timber and in the 
cost of firewood is premature in so densely forested a countiy, and is 
the direct result of wasteful methods in the utilization of its resources. 
A continuance of these methods will necessarily result in a serious 
check to the general prosperity of western North Carolina and eastern 
Tennessee, where the inhabitants have already to contend with the 
remoteness and ruggedness of the region, and with an exceedingly 
low percentage of arable land. These methods will, moreover, not 
only render it costly to obtain wood for home consumption, but will 
entirel}^ destroj^ what is still the most important source of revenue in 
the Southern Appalachians — the lumbering of its valuable hardwoods 
to supply a steady and increasing demand in distant markets. 

It is intended in this paper merel}^ to outline the nature of the 
problem at hand and to suggest certain general lines of treatment that 
might be followed. 

GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE REGION. 

The mountain region of western North Carolina and eastern Tennes- 
see comprises an area of 15,000 square miles. It includes the Blue 

357 



358 YEARBOOK OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 

Ridge on the east and the Smoky Mountains on the west, with the high 
and l)roken plateau which lies between them. Many spurs and ridges 
run off at right angles from these two ranges upon the plateau, and 
make of it the loftiest and most rugged section east of the Rocky 
Mountains. The more important of these cross chains are the Black 
Mountains, a spur of the Blue Ridge, which contain Mitchell Peak. 
6,711 feet high; the Balsam Mountains, with a mean elevation of over 
5,000 feet; and the Cowee Mountains, one of the longest of the cross 
ranges. Beginning on the east with the spurs of the Blue Ridge, 
which lose themselves in the Piedmont district, the elevation increases 
and the character of the mountain region grows more rugged westward 
toward the Smokies, in which the Appalachian system culminates. 

The slates, granite, and gneiss, with their intermediate forms, are 
the chief underlying rocks. Of these, the gneiss is most common. It 
is usually soft, and disintegrates rapidly, forming a sandy loam which, 
although not particularly rich, is loose, fresh, and of great depth, 
except where the grade is such as to cause excessive erosion. 

Where gneiss is the surface formation the slopes are generally smooth 
and rounded as a result of its rapid weathering. Where the slowly 
disintegrating granite forms the outcrop the topography is rugged 
and the slopes steep and bowlder-strewn, and sometimes craggy and 
precipitous, particularly those which face toward the south. 

With the exception of the natural meadows which occup}^ the sum- 
mits of some of the higher peaks, the mountains are covered with forest 
growth. The valleys are almost entirely under cultivation. Upland 
farming is carried on upon the foothills, and occasionally, for lack of 
better ground, upon mountain slopes so steep that their thorough 
cultivation is impossible. 

THE FOREST. 

It has often been said that it is in this region that the forest trees of 
the North mingle with those of the South, and the statement gives but an 
incomplete idea of the great variet}' of trees which is here the result of 
wide local differences in soil and climate. Western North Carolina and 
eastern Tennessee contain over one hundred kinds of native trees. Of 
these, some, such as the Black Spruce and Balsam, which ffnd in the 
Smokies at an elevation of 4,000 feet and over conditions similar to those 
of their northern habitat, are either too rare or too difficult of access to 
be often of commercial importance. Others, such as the Black Gum, 
Sourwood, Dogwood, Buckeye, and Aspen, are valueless for timber, and 
are used for firewood only when no better kinds are to be had. (PI. 
XXXVIII.) Others again, among which are the Striped Maple, the 
Haw, and the Silverbell Tree, have as yet no merchantable value. 

Among the commercial trees the more important hardwoods are the 
Yellow Poplar, the Oaks, Hickories, Chestnut, Birch, Ash, Cherry, 



Yearbook U S, Dept, of Ag:riculture, 1900. 



Plate XXXVIll. 




Dogwood in Flower. 



Yearboc'-. U S Dept of Agiiculture. 1900. 



Plate XXXIX. 




Yellow Poplar and Hemlock on North Slope. 
[Photograph by H. B. Ayres.] 



PRACTICAL FOEESTRY IN SOUTHERN APPALACHIANS. 859 

Basswood, Black Walnut, and Maple. The merchantable softwoods, 
of which there are comparatively few, are chietiy Shortleaf Pine, White 
Pine, and Hemlock. They seldom predominate in the mixture, but 
occur by groups and single trees, the Shortleaf Pine in the larger val- 
leys and on the foothills, the White Pine confined chiefly to coves and 
intermediate Ioav ridges i^i the Blue Ridge, and the Hemlock along the 
streams and on the lower slopes of the mountain valleys. The latter, 
although much less common than farther north in the mountains of 
Virginia and West Virginia, on account of the increased num))er of 
faster-growing trees with which it has to contend, probably reaches in 
this region a larger size than an3^where else within its habitat, 

FOREST TYPES. 

The many kinds of trees native to this portion of the Southern 
Appalachians, and the fact that most of them have a wide local range, 
renders the forest exceedingly varied and makes it difficult to classify 
it into types except in a very broad and general way. The Oaks, 
among which the White Oak is most frequent, form the chief part of 
the forest growth up to an elevation of about 2,500 feet. With them 
are mixed the Shortleaf Pine, the Hickories, and a host of subordinate 
kinds, among which the Black Gum and Red Maple are most common 
in moist situations, the Basswood, Birches, Ashes, Yellow Poplar, 
and Cucumljer Tree on fresh soils, and the Chestnut, Locust, Dogwood, 
and Sourwood on south slopes and in dry localities generalh\ 

At an elevation of 2,500 to 3,500 feet the number of the Oaks 
decreases and Yellow Poplar, Hemlock, Birch, Beech, Ash, Black 
Walnut, and Cherry reach their best development and predominate 
especially in coves and hollows with a northerly aspect. (PI. XXXIX.) 

Above 3,500 feet the forest falls off both in the number of different 
kinds of trees and in their size and quality. The Chestnut, Chestnut 
Oak, and Red Oak are the characteristic trees of this belt and occur 
almost pure on dry, steep slopes and ridges. Finally, at about 4,000 
feet, dense woods of Black Spruce and Balsam Fir cover the ground 
to the exclusion of all other trees and reach to the mountain tops, 
except on the "balds," the local term for those mountains, the crests 
of which arc occupied by natural meadows. 

The general type of these forests, except where modified by lum- 
bering or fire, or by both, is that of the virgin forest, exceedingly 
irregular in age and density. On the loAver slopes, where the Oak 
prevails and where logging for timber and firewood has long been 
carried on, and which also have suffered from excessive grazing and 
repeated fires, the forest consists largely of second growth, seldom over 
fort}^ years old. Above this second growth, in which a constant 
struggle goes on between the Oaks and the Shortleaf Pine, the latter 
holduig its own almost everywhere and having the upper hand on the 



360 YEAEBOOK OF THE DEPAETMENT OF AGEICULTUEE. 

poor soils, stand mostly old oak and pine, which generally owe their 
presence to the fact that they are unfit for lumber. The result is a 
ver}^ irregular two-storied forest, the old oak and pine forming the 
upper story and the second growth the lower, the latter varying greatly 
in age in different localities, according to the dates of the lumbering, 
and often in the same locality, where there have been repeated cut- 
tings, each one of which has induced a new growth of seedlings and 
stump shoots. 

Higher up in the mountains, where there has been less fire and 
lumbering, is perhaps the most perfect form of the mixed virgin forest 
to be found in this country. Trees of all ages occur together, and 
there is seldom, except where a space has been laid bare by wind and 
seeded up, any approach to an even-aged growth. It is here that the 
struggle for existence has been carried on without intervention and 
that trees of each kind have held their own in the mixture through 
the characteristics which have been given them for that purpose — one 
by plentiful crops of seed, another by capacity to endure great shade, 
another by its rapid growth or its adaptability to manj^ different soils 
and situations. The result has been a forest containing a w^onderful 
variety of types and forms of mixture. Some of the trees, particu- 
larly the Yellow Poplar and Hemlock, show a marked tendency to 
distribution by groups and patches. The Ash, Basswood, Beech, and 
most of the others, however, are distributed evenly throughout those 
localities which are favorable to them. 

This region shows a variety in the undergrowth which corresponds 
to the richness of its silva. Among the most characteristic shrubs and 
those which influence chiefly the reproduction of the forest are the 
Rhododendron and Kalmia, or Mountain Laurel, which in the higher 
mountains not infrequent^ form a distinct and almost impenetrable 
second story under the forest trees. After these the more important 
of the shrubs and shrub-like trees are the Serviceberry, Sumach, 
Magnolia, Holly, Sassafras, Haw, Stagbush, and Hazel. 

LUMBEKING. 

There are two distinct types of lumbering in the Southern Appala- 
chians, similar in the extent of the harm done to the forest, but differ- 
ing widely in the manner in which they are carried out. 

The one is the slipshod, desultory form which has been practiced by 
the farmers of this region since its settlement in order to eke out the 
generally scanty profits from their farms. Although their output is 
small individually, their combined efforts, extending over man}' years, 
have resulted in the culling of the best timber over a large portion of 
the more accessible forests. The scattered distribution of the mer- 
chantable trees, however, has rendered the lumbering comparatively 
light except where firewood has been cut as well as saw logs. 



PRACTICAL FORESTRY IN SOUTHERN APPALACHIANS, 361 

The other dates from the time when, some fifteen years ago, with 
the failing supply of timber in Maine, Michigan, and the north woods 
generally, began the exodus of many Northern lumbermen to the 
hardwood forests of the Virginias, Georgia, and Tennessee, and to the 
pineries and cypress swamps in the far South. With their arrival 
began lumbering on a large scale in the Southern Appalachians, 
together with the investment of commensurate capital in logging out- 
fits, the thorough reptiir and extension of logging roads, and the appli- 
cation of those skillful and businesslike methods which constitute clean 
lumbering. The active and systematic manner in which these men 
conducted a lumber job and the margin of profit which they wrung 
from it were a revelation to the natives, but have not yet resulted in 
any appreciable improvement in their methods. 

It is nevertheless to be remembered that several factors have tended 
to make a poor lumberman of the farmer of western North Carolina or 
eastern Tennessee. He is often hampered by lack of the capital nec- 
essary to make the most of lumbering in this region, and he is gener- 
ally wanting in the knowledge requisite to the best use of it. He has 
had always to contend with the difliculty of obtaining expert loggers 
to carry out the work, and is generally obliged, through the scarcit}^ of 
available white men, to employ negroes, who seldom do well in the 
lumber woods, for the reason that they are usuall}^ strongly averse to 
the mode of life required of them. Nevertheless, the nearness of 
large bodies of merchantable timber, among which are valuable kinds, 
such as the Cherr}^, Black Walnut, Hickory, and Yellow Poplar, has 
usually made a fair profit possible under even the most thriftless log- 
ging methods. 

The unnecessary damage to the forest and the total lack of provision 
for a future crop, characteristic of lumbering generally in the South- 
ern Appalachians, is deplorable. It is a form of waste, however, which 
can not be eliminated by criticism, but can best be checked by proof 
of the advantages of more conservative methods, through their appli- 
cation to a portion of these forests, either by the Government upon 
its own lands or in cooperation with private owners. 

There is, however, much immediate loss incurred by a species of 
slovenliness which is as foreign to clean lumbering as it is to practical 
forestry, and is entirelj'^ without excuse. Entire trees found to be 
unsound at the base are often left upon the ground to rot, rather than 
butt ofl" the decayed portion. Not infrequently sound trees of a mer- 
chantable diameter are carelessly left uncut upon the lumbered area. 
There is great waste in high stumps and in lack of judgment in sawing 
up the trees, while careless felling leaves many a lodged tree in the 
woods or smashes the more brittle kinds, particularly the Yellow Poplar. 



362 YEARBOOK OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 

THE LOCAL SYSTEM. 

The local system of lumbering is exceedingly simple. The trees 
are felled and sawn into logs Avhere they lie, and these are snaked, or 
skidded, by horses, or, more often, by cattle, to the roadside or the 
river bank. Logging streams are rare, however, in the Southern 
Appalachians, and the customary way of getting the logs to the mill 
or to the railroad is by wagon over the rough mountain roads. (Pis. 
XL and XLI.) It is a somewhat primitive system throughout, but it 
is the one most generally suited to the nature of the country and to 
the distribution of the merchantable timber, which does not often 
favor the employment of those labor-saving devices which have been 
found profitable in logging elsewhere. The lack of sufficient snow 
usually prevents the use of sleds instead of logging wagons. The 
topography is often better adapted to timber slides or to donkey 
engines and wire cables for bringing the logs to the roads than to 
snaking with teams. The merchanta])le timber, however, is generally 
so scattered that the amount which could be transported by one 
slide or from one spot by an engine and calile is seldom sufficient 
to render them profitable. These and similar appliances suitable to a 
rough mountain countrj^, but to the success of which a dense mer- 
chantable stand, or, in other words, a large amount of timber upon a 
small area, is necessary, have here usually been found impracticable. 

DAMA(iE TO THE FOREST. 

The harm done to the forest is very great in proportion to the 
quantity of timber cut. This is due largely to the size of the trees 
and to the fact that little care is taken in the fellings. The damage to 
young growth is aggravated by the absence of snow and by the fact 
that the fellings are not infrequently made when the trees are in full 
leaf. 

The breaking down and wounding of seedlings and young trees by 
the snaking of the logs to the roadside or the river is in large part 
unavoidable. There are often, however, many more snakeways, or 
skidways, than are necessary, and the application of a little system in 
laying them out would save time and young growth on a luml)er jol). 
On the higher and steeper slopes it is often the habit, and one which 
can not be criticised too strongly, except in those rare cases where it 
is absolutely necessary on account of the gradient, to roll the logs from 
top to bottom, merely starting them with the cant hook. A 16-foot 
log, 3 feet or more in diameter, can gain momentum enough in this 
way to smash even fair-sized trees in its path, and should it pass 
through dense young growth it leaves a track like that of a miniature 
tornado. The practice is in line with others to be observed in the 
Southern Appalachians, such as the common habit, for example, of 
leaving to rot the "deadened" trees which stand over clearings. 



Yearbook U S. Dept. of Agriculture, 1900^ 



Plate XL. 




A Characteristic Mountain Stream. 

[Photograph by H. B. Ayres.] 



Yearbook U S. Dept. of Agriculture, 1900. 



Plate XLI. 




A Mountain Road. 
[Photograph by H. B. Ayres.] 



Yearbook U. S. Dept. of Agri 




PRACTICAL FORESTRY IN SOUTHERN AJTALACHIANS. '^03 

?here are cases in which these clearinos have been inclosed with 
ences built of rails split from prime Black Walnut, with no other 
xcuse than that the walnut happened to be within easier reach than 
ither Oak or Pine. (PL XLII.) 

Under such methods, in which there is not only an absolute lack of 
irovision for a future crop, but often a marked absence of that fore- 
hought, skill, and aversion to waste which go to make clean lumbering, 
iiost of the logged-over areas in the Southern Appalachians are only 
aved from entire destruction of the standing trees l)y the generally 
eattered distribution of the merchantable timber. 



Fire has done, and continues to do, enormous damage in the Southern 
Lppalachians. This has been the result not only of local conditions, 
f-hich are exceedingly favorable to fires, but of a very passive senti- 
lent in regard to them. In most great forest regions, with increase 
II population has grown a more determined attitude toward forest 
res and a consequent falling off in the frequency of their occurrence, 
'his has not yet been the case in the Southern Appalachians. The 
rea burned over annually has increased rather than diminished, and 
he general feeling among the natives is one of somewhat placid resig- 
ation to an evil which is not fully realized and which is considered 
Imost inevitable. Inevitable it assuredly is not; but thei'e are several 
actors which combine to render fires in this region exceedingly diffi- 
ult to check when once they are started. The absence of snow except 
or short periods, or of a marked rainy season, makes the danger a 
enerally constant one throughout the time when the trees are leafless, 
'here are seldom in the higher mountains any clearings or natural 
penings to serve as lire breaks, and the forests contain a large amount 
f dead timber, which adds power to the lires. 

CAUSES OF FIRES. 

There is not enough game in the Southern Appalachians to encourage 
amping during the autumn and winter months, and very few of the 
orest tires can be laid to campers. The munber set maliciously is also 
mall. Some are undoubtedly started each year ])y cart^lessness in the 
imber camps, from the burning of tops and branches in the recent 
learings, or by tourists and cattlemen. By far the larger number, 
owever, are the result of the long-established practice of burning 
ver the woods in the autumn under the belief that better pasturage 
5 thus obtained the following year. These flres are set l)y the farmers 
n the area upon which they expect to turn out their sheep and cattle 
uring the next season, and there is rarely an attempt made to conflne 
tiem unless a neighbor's house or barn should be endangered. The 
onsequence is that, except when isolated by roads or clearings, they 



S64r YEARBOOK OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 

often spread from the wood lots of the valleys and foothills in which 
they are set out to the forests of the higher mountains, where the}- 
burn unmolested for days or even weeks, until finally extinguished b} 
rain, snow, contrary wind, or lack of inflammable material in the sparse 
forests of the stony upper slopes. These fires are set year after year 
upon the same areas. They decrease annually in heat and power on 
the areas already burned over, until finally, with almost every vestige 
of the humus destroyed and the mineral soil baked and hardened, there 
is but little left upon the ground to burn except the leaf-fall of the 
preceding season. 

It would seem that so common and ancient a practice as the burning 
over of forest land in the Southern Appalachians in order to improve 
the pasturage would long since have been abandoned had it not proved 
successful. However, apart from the damage caused to the forest, 
doubt has already arisen among some of the farmers themselves as to 
whether it is not, after all, a short-sighted policy. The result of l)urn- 
ing over forest land the first time in this region is undeniably to destroy 
shrubs and seedlings and to stimulate the growth of weeds and grasses 
which aflord good grazing. On the other hand, there are many locali- 
ties which owe their unfitness for grazing to repeated fires. The final 
result is a sparse, unhealth}' forest, entirel}^ insuflicient to protect from 
sun and wind the hardened and impoverished soil beneath it, which is 
generalh' covered with a straggling growth of broom sedge or wire 
grass, and is practically bare of other herbage. On slopes, where the 
admission of Hght and the destruction of the vegetable mold has been 
followed by more or less excessive erosion, the mineral soil is some- 
times exposed, or even worn down to the underlying rock, where it is 
near the surface. 

The whole matter awaits thorough and systematic study before it 
can be authoritatively stated whether, disregarding the damage to the 
timber and with a view to grazing only, it is best to exclude fire 
entirely from forest land in this region or under what conditions and 
restrictions to make use of it. The local grazing interests are impor- 
tant, and the annual fires will continue until it has been established to 
the satisfaction of the natives that they fail of their prime object in 
the long run. A detailed investigation on the ground of this matter 
by unprejudiced men, with the publication of its results, will be the 
first and most important step toward the protection of these forests 
from fire. 

DAMAGE BY FIRES. 

The immediate damage done by fire in the Southern Appalachians is 
much slighter than in the evergreen forests of the North and West. 
Crown fires are rare except in particularly dr}'^ seasons and under a 
high wind, and it is seldom that trees are consumed or even killed out- 
right, except in second growth and young woods. The chief harm 



PRACTICAL FORESTRY IN SOUTHERIJ APPALACHIAiyS. 365 

done la in the killing of youncj tree growth and in the decay which 
starts from the scars left at the base of the trees, to which the Yellow 
Poplar, the White Oak. and the Hickories are particularly .sas<:ep- 
tible. The firnt thing for the timber cruiser here, after he has satis- 
fied himself of the .size and quality of the merchantable stand, is to 
\o(fk for traces of severe fires. Should they have run over the area, it 
is possible that the labor and losri in timber of butting off the decayed 
portion at the IfUse of the tree may seriously impair the profit from 
the lumbering. 

Apart from damage to the merchantable stand, the result of fire is 
here aV?o greatly to disturb the balance between the different trees, a 
matter of some importance where there is so large a numV>er in mixture, 
many of which are practically worthless. For example, the Dogwood, 
Sourwood, Black Jack, and Scrub Oak offer great resistance to fire, and 
are characteristic kinds in the young growth on burned-over lands. 
Repeated fires on White Oak and Poplar land will soon so dry out and 
impoverish the soil as to render it unfit for the reproduction of thovse 
species, to which a moist, rich soil is necessary. On the foothills and 
in the larger valleys where the Shortleaf Pine enters prominently into 
the mixture, oak forests are constantly being converted into pine 
forests through the agency of fire. A dense growth of E^almia is fre- 
quently the result of repeated fires on south slopes and renders the 
growth of the seedlings difficult or even impossible. 

SrGGESTIONS FOE MANAGE>£E>'T. 

There are two problems presented to practical forestry in the South- 
ern Appalachians: The one, the management of the cut-over lands of 
the foothills and larger valleys, which have suffered from excessive 
grazing and repeated fires, and have been lumbered heavily, not only 
for timber, but also for fuel: the other, the management of the forests 
of the higher mountains, which still contain large bodies of virgin 
timber, and in which fire and grazing have done comparatively little 
damage. These are the two great classes of forest land in this region. 
They differ not only in past treatment and in the character, quality, 
and amount of the stand, but also in the demands which are made 
upon them. The forer^ts of the foothills and lower valleys constitute 
the wood lots which must supply the farmer with his firewood and 
fencing. The mountain forests, on the other hand, are usually so 
difficult of access that they are as yet of value only for saw logs. 

CCT-OVER LA>-D6. 

It has already been mentioned that the cut-over lands characteristic 
of the more accessible and thickly populated districts consist largely 
of uneven-aged second growth, chiefly of Oak and Pine, with scattered 
old trees of the same kinds standing above it. The density is generally 



366 YEARBOOK OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 

low and the qualit}^ of the old trees exceedingl}^ poor, while the second 
growth is often characterized b}' the presence of worthless species, by 
injuries due to fire and grazing, and by a lack of vigor which is the 
result of excessive shade. In some localities, where the young trees 
have been killed oil' by fire and there is left onl}^ a scant}- remnant of 
the old stand, cuttings can do no good, and would be likely still further 
to impair the meager chances for successful reproduction. The larger 
part of these forests, however, is in urgent need of improvement 
cuttings, with the object of producing a denser and healthier growth, 
and of removing the trees of worthless kinds which have sprung up 
after lumbering or form a part of the old stand. The cutting out of 
undesirable species, such as Dogwood, Sourwood, and Scrub Oak, of 
branchy advance growth which is suppressing promising seedlings 
and saplings, and the gradual removal of the old trees, would be in line 
with this polic^y. These cuttings would entail no more than a thorough 
understanding of their purpose and a reasonable amount of care in 
their execution. The}" could be carried out successfully by the farm- 
ers after the principles had once been illustrated and explained by a 
forester. Their entire practicability has been forcibly illustrated upon 
the Biltmore estate, near Asheville, N. C, where about 4,000 acres of 
woodland, formerly owned by a number of small farmers, are made to 
produce annually about 3,000 cords of firewood, with a steady and 
marked improvement in the general condition of the forest. 

It is often urged by the farmers that these careful cuttings would 
cost more than would be brought by the sale of their produce. The 
Biltmore experiment, in which a rule has been made that all cuttings 
shall at least be self-supporting, has satisfactorily established the fal- 
lacy of such a view. The firewood cut upon the Biltmore estate is sold 
in the open market in competition with that taken by the farmers from 
their own lands and under their own methods, and it realizes a fair 
margin of profit above the cost of cutting and hauling. It is to be 
remembered, however, that the good results of these improvement 
cuttings in the forests of the Biltmore estate would have been seri- 
ously impaired had not cattle and fire been kept out since the institu- 
tion of systematic and conservative management. 

VIRGIN FORESTS. 

The mountain forests of the Southern Appalachians are silvieulturally 
the most complex in the United States. They contain many kinds of 
trees varying widely in habit and also in merchantable value, and the 
forest type is constantly changing w4th differences in elevation, expo- 
sure, gradient, and soil. Their proper management is difficult, because 
the lack of uniformity in the forest renders it necessary constantly to 
vary the severity of the cuttings and to discriminate in the kinds of 
trees which are cut, instead of following only those general rules 



PRACTICAL FORESTRY IN SOUTHERN APPALACHIANS. 867 

which suffice where there are fewer species represented and the forest 
conforms more closel}' to a single type. In order to reproduce these 
forests successfully and to minimize the damage done by lumbering, 
first of all it will be necessary to have a radical improvement in the 
fellings. Such an improvement is entirely practicable, without addi- 
tional cost per 1,000 feet B. M. of tim})er felled. It often requires no 
more labor to fell a tree up a slope than down it, or upon an open space 
rather than into a clump of young growth; and it is in just such cases 
as these that unreasoning disregard for the future of the forest is 
commonly manifested in the Southern Appalachians, 

In thp selection of trees to be felled, the small farmers, who for a 
long time were the only lumbermen in the Southern Appalachians, have 
been governed by the same considerations which govern lumbermen else- 
where. They have taken the best trees and left uncut those of doubtful 
value rather than run the risk of loss in felling them. Furthermore, 
the fact that they have lumbered generally on a very small scale and 
have often had great difficulties with which to contend in the transport 
of logs has led them to extremes in this respect. The result is that 
they have reduced the general quality of their forests in a measure 
entirely disproportionate to the amount of timber cut. As a rule, 
only prime trees have been taken, and those showing even slight 
unsoundness left uncut, except where the stand of first-class timber 
was insufficient. Diseased and deteriorating trees remain, to offset the 
growth of the forest by their decay and to reduce its productive 
capacity still further by suppressing the j^ounger trees beneath them, 
while in the blanks made by the lumbering worthless species often con- 
tend with young growth of the valuable kinds. In other words, the 
lumbering has closely followed the selection system, but the principles 
governing the selection have usually been at variance with the needs 
of the forest. 

In order to bring about successful reproduction of the desirable 
species and to maintain the quality and density of the stand, lumber- 
ing in the mountain forests of the Southern Appalachians must be 
governed by the following main considerations: 

(1) Remove all diseased, overripe, or otherwise faulty trees of a 
merchantable size where there is alreadj^ sufficient young growth 
upon the ground to protect the soil and to serve as a basis for a 
second crop of timber. In extreme cases, where the condition of the 
forest is greatly impaired by the presence of a large number of such 
trees, or where they overshadow and seriously retard promising young 
growth, their removal ma}^ be financially advisable when the sale of 
the produce no more than pays the cost of logging. 

(2) So direct the cuttings that the reproduction of the timber trees may 
be encouraged in opposition to that of the less valuable kinds. This 
can not be successfully accomplished in the Southern Appalachians 



368 YEARBOOK OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 

by cutting to a diameter limit merely. A limit will by all means be 
advisable for each species, based upon a study of its rate of growth 
and the proportion which different diameters bear to its contents in 
board feet. It will be frequently necessary, however, to leave trees 
of a merchantable diameter where their removal would seriously 
impair density or where seed trees are necessary. In the leaving of 
seed trees many considerations are involved, only a few of which can 
be mentioned here. The Oaks, Hickories,Walnut, and Chestnut should 
be favored, since their seed is too heavy to be carried bj^ wind, and 
much of it is eaten by animals. (PI. XLIII.) The marked tendency 
of the Hemlock and Yellow Poplar to reproduce by groups must be 
encouraged. On south slopes and in dry localities generally, where 
Dogwood, Sourwood, and Scrub Oak contend with the timber trees, 
great care must be taken not to disturb the balance between them. 
The rich, moist soil of the poplar coves is particularly likely to pro- 
duce a luxuriant growth of weeds and brambles instead of tree seed- 
lings if too much light is admitted to the soil; while the Ash, Cherry, 
and Basswood, which are only sparsely represented in the mature stand 
and are further handicapped among the young growth by their strong 
demands upon light, would require an exceedingly conservative method 
of management. 

NEED OF PRACTICAL FORESTRY. 

The degree of care which is justified in the lumbering of any forest 
depends primarily upon the value of the timber which it produces. 
The higher the margin of profit on lumbering the larger the capital 
which is represented by the immature trees and the more important 
the financial considerations involved in their protection. Stunipage 
values are not sufficiently good in the Southern Appalach ,as to 
warrant the application of an elaborate system of forest management, 
but they are high enough to make a sound business measure of prac- 
tical forestry. The production of repeated crops of merchantable 
timber is here advisable, not only on account of the price this timber 
commands at present, but because it is rapidly increasing in v: lue for 
the lack of satisfactory substitutes, notably in the case of th Black 
Walnut, Cherry, Hickory, White Oak, and Yellow Poplar. 

From the point of view of the State, further considerations are 
involved in the preservation of the forests of this region. They con- 
stitute the drainage basins of several important rivers, there is no 
other great forest region except the Adirondacks of northern New 
York which is within easy reach of so large a number of people, and 
its healthfulness is sufficient to have transformed it in the last twenty 
years from what was practically a wilderness to a deservedly popular 
health resort. 



irbook U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, 1900. 



Plate XLlll. 




The Chestnut. 
[Photograph by H. B. Ayres.] 



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